Till There Was You
by Lady Scarlet-Une
Summary: Disenchantment leads to seduction. Seduction brings knowledge. Knowledge births revolution.
1. Prologue - Virginal

Till There Was You

Prologue: Virginal

by Lady Scarlet-Une

The first time I saw you, you were laying on a beach, seemingly lifeless from afar. After you had left, I stared off into the distance, my emotions in a turmoil and my senses in a whirl. I didn't know who you were, I didn't know what drove you. All I knew was that I wanted you.

From there, my obsession grew. You consumed my thoughts, my dreams, and my heart. Every night I slept to your face in my mind and woke to it. I thought I loved you and would one day maybe even have you. I'm still trying to decide if I should be thankful for that wish come true.

***

The first stage of my life was lived in a hazy storybook place called the Sanc Kingdom. I was born Relena Peacecraft, a name purportedly associated with royalty, political power, and prestige. I hate that name now, but I didn't know any better a s a babe. I merely gurgled and cooed and wore diapers like all other babies except that I was better dressed, I guess. My family exhorted the idea of unilateral pacifism, a doctrine that would supposedly be applied at all costs at all times. This mighty ideal, allegedly, would garner world peace and safety. As high browed and turn-the-other-cheek Christian as this might have been, it ultimately proved ineffective in practice. My whole family, except my now-absent brother and myself, were wiped out by OZ. Goes to show what ill preparation and years of high society in-breeding can do to you. Thus I fell into the hands of my other set of parents, my real parents for all intents and purposes, Mr. and Mrs. Darlian. Thus began the second stage of my life.

This phase of my existence was filled, like before, with all the privileges that wealth and power can bring. For awhile, I was happy doing the whole Queen Bee thing and spoiled-only-child routine. Life lay before me as a series of endless social gatherings with an inexhaustible supply of simpering suck-ups to carry my sedan, all culminating in my eventual high-society wedding extravaganza and the ride into the matronly sunset. I felt lonely, I felt unloved at times by my busy father and mother, but what's familial affection compared to superficial social popularity? I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I'd had a firm family background. Would I have become a better person than what I am now? Would I have been better at carrying the Sanc Kingdom and eventually the world? Would I not have felt an overwhelming need to fill the void of affection in my life by shamelessly chasing the elusive Heero Yuy? I will never know the answers to any of those questions. All I know is that the end of my illusion with the Darlians led me full circle to the Peacecraft curse and that Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, loved me enough to save me from it.

Throughout the war with OZ, I was driven by a firm sense of loyalty to honor the memory of my destroyed Peacecraft heritage and the ghost of my martyred surrogate father. At night, I would lie in bed and listen to him repeat his peaceful doctrines over and over in my head. In surround sound, nonetheless. It wasn't the arguments that persuaded me; an extended amount of time of that alone would have driven me insane or made me extremely resentful in the least. Instead, it was that coupled with the memories of my childhood and his soft voice whispering his love for me in my ear. I am not the first child to dutifully succumb to their parent's posthumous wishes. Instead, I was merely a prominent one, thrown into the spotlight before puberty could even get a firm grasp on me and give me some decent-sized breasts. And so I went out and preached and screeched pacifism at the top of my lungs.

Concurrently, I was torn with a need to love and be loved by Heero Yuy. He of the cold eyes and closed expression could drive me irrational with longing. Unlike me, however, Heero lived his life through war and believed it was the best way to achieve an ultimate peace. And I, caught up in love and duty, alternately fought him and urged him along. I was contradictory, unhappy, and too extreme at times. But I was living the life the ghosts wanted me to. Duty calls above all other things, after all.

After the war, I found myself in the position of slowly trying to peace my shattered soul back together. Part of it was lost when I had finally acknowledged the necessity of war to obtain ultimate peace and my father's voice had died a bittersweet death. Another part of it went with the ruined remains of the Sanc Kingdom and my ultimate exploitation by Romefellar. But most of it, and my heart, disappeared with Heero Yuy. Yet I kept smiling and mouthing the right words and flattering the appropriate dignitaries. Part of me still believed in all of the talk and the politics, but another part was embittered with what I had seen. I did not realize the extent of this until after Mariemeia and my moment with Heero in my arms. If peace could still be ruthlessly disrupted after the hard work of so many, what was the point of following these now obsolete traditions? Other methods would be needed. Thus, the final stage of my life began.


	2. Awakening

**Till There Was You**

Part 1: Awakening

by Lady Scarlet-Une

Our meeting, like many other fateful events throughout history, was by pure chance. Heero had been working for the Preventers for several years now and had been studiously avoiding me for an amount of time roughly equal to that. I let him. In fact, I even went out of my way at times to avoid him. It's easier to cling to delusions of grand romance when the object of your affection isn't literally or figuratively shooting you down. But, like all good things, our luck eventually ran out. In retrospect, I wonder if maybe that's when Lady Luck actually kicked in. Whatever the cause, we suddenly found ourselves face to face one night at some faceless official function.

"Heero."

"Relena."

I drank him in with hungry eyes, as clichéd as that may sound. As fruitful as my imagination had been, none of my mental conjuring - of him both naked and not - could ever compare to the real thing. I tried to act nonchalant.

"So how're you doing, Heero?" I said brightly. He looked at me oddly.

"Fine."

As taciturn as ever. "Here with anyone?"

"Yes. Her."

"I looked across the glitzy ballroom and spotted a tall lean woman in a red sheath dress. I mentally raised an eyebrow. Heero's taste in women sure had matured.

"She's very beautiful," I replied honestly. I was quite proud of myself. No theatrics, no tears, nada. Those were for later in the privacy of my own room with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

"Yes she is," he replied evenly. I turned my gaze back in his direction and found him looking at me intently. 

"What is it, Heero?" I asked calmly, though somewhat unnerved. He continued to stare at me oddly for awhile longer.

"How are you, Relena?" Truthfully, I was quite taken aback by his question. Heero was not one for social pleasantries and he had never shown any personal concern for my well being before. Granted he had saved my life on various occassions, but that was only so I could help save the world and all that crap.

"I-I'm fine," I stuttered back.

"Are you really?"

I was quite thrown by his question. My eyes narrowed. What was he implying? God knows I hadn't stalked him lately, so this couldn't be a jibe about my mental health. Could he know about my newfound dissatisfaction with the status quo's version of peace and love and goodwill towards men? Of course not. There -- 

"Heero," a voice purred from somewhere behind me. I watched the lady in the red dress glide up to him and possessively - but gracefully - grab his arm. I mentally rolled my eyes and made gagging noises. "Who are you talking to, darling?" 

Heero calmly extricated his arm from her death grip and moved one step away. "Gwyneth, this is Vice Minister Relena Darlian. Relena, this is my associate, Gwyneth Warton."

"A pleasure," I replied politely and reached out to shake her hand. She ignored my hand and, after a quick assessment of my outfit and being from top to bottom, promptly ignored the rest of me. She turned to Heero instead and transformed into full vamp mode.

"Heero baby," she began, her voice low and seductive, "I think it's time to go home now." She ran her lacquered nails up his arm lightly. "I'm kind of...tired." Heero brushed her hand off him once more.

"I'll drive you home then," he replied coldly. He looked at me one last time before he turned to go. "Relena."

"Heero." We stared at each other intently before he broke eye contact and walked off with Gwyneth in tow. I sighed and turned around. 'I'll just kill her in all my delusions, that's all,' I thought wryly. 

I hit the bottle as soon as I got home.

***

The mornings after excessive alcoholic binges are never pleasant. The usual surprises one can encounter during one of these lovely instances include nausea, blood shot eyes, cotton mouth, and debilitating, mind-numbing headaches. I had all this and more so. I also had a cabinet board meeting. Thus I found myself dressed in my god-awful white French-revival dignitary outfit fighting a hangover at 8 a.m. in the bloody morning. On and on they droned, recycling the same old rhetoric and pleas for aid for such and such a humanitarian cause. Pacifism good! Pacifism great! I fought the urge to throw up on my meeting brief.

"I say, Vice Minister Darlian. Did you hear my question?"

My head shot up. Damn. I had been caught. "I'm sorry, Prime Minister Erikson. I'm afraid I was thinking about something else," I replied sweetly. "Could you please repeat the question?" Erikson beamed back at me. They didn't take me as seriously as they said they did. I was only twenty, after all. And a cute little missy girl to boot. Chauvinist bastards.

"Why of course, Vice Minister Darlian! I was merely pontificating upon the deplorable situation in Bruinda and how all our gestures have been ignored by the warring factions. What do you think we should do?"

I didn't miss a beat. "Send Mobile suits in to destroy their military force. Then install a puppet government to keep them in line." I narrowed my eyes. "Destroy all dissenters."

My statement, predictably, was met with stunned silence. I may have dropped the word Peacecraft from my name, but the legacy was still there. As well as all the connotations associated with the name Darlian and my own track record. Suddenly, Erikson burst into jovial laughter, laughing so hard and long that he clutched his sides and had to lean on the table to keep from falling off his chair. I looked around the room and noticed similar amused expressions on the faces of the other old bastards.

"That was a fine jest, Darlian!" Erikson chortled. He chuckled a bit more. "Almost had me going there for a minute. His laughter subsided into an amused smile. I looked around the room and smiled sweetly at all the men present.

"Yes. Sometimes I even surprise myself."

***

After the meeting, I went to my office and stared blankly at the gardens below my office windows. The last three hours had been representative of my whole damn political career. As disillusioned as I had been after the war with OZ, I had still believed that true unity and peace via some convoluted form of pacifism would come about in the end. But my years in politics had told me otherwise. Wars were still breaking out globally, though their scales were quite small and localized. It was always about the same things: power, money, domination, all those other mind games that people play to prove themselves superior over someone or another. As minor as these skirmishes were, the official advocacy of pacifism by the Earth Sphere Unified Nation made it difficult to quell their uprisings. It's hard to fight gun-toting guerrillas when you don't have any weapons, after all. There was definitely too much uncontrolled power out there. I turned around and strode to my desk. I punched a button on my phone.

"Get me Heero Yuy," I ordered curtly.

"Yes Miss Relena." I smiled at myself in self-mockery. How many times had I dreamed of saying that? The mental product usually involved a red bow around his neck and a leopard print thong, though. I'd have to settle for a Preventers uniform in this case. If he even showed up at all.

Heero walked into my office half an hour later. I watched him enter from my position behind the desk. I got up slowly and walked to meet him. We gazed at each other silently, both sporting our best poker faces.

"Heero."

"Relena."

I looked deep into his eyes. And then, without a word, I wrapped an arm around his neck and kissed him.

***

Much later, I turned to him and asked, "Why did you avoid me?" He gazed back at me implacably from the pillow beside mine. "I know you loved me."

"We were different then, Relena. You were caught up in your ideals and ghosts and I was too deep into mine." He fingered a lock of my now unbound hair. "I knew what would happen to you, Relena. And I knew that when you finally realized what you really wanted, you'd call me. So I bided my time."

I looked at his dear face hovering intimately near mine. I wasn't surprised by his revelation. Heero was a very intuitive man, after all. I gently placed a hand on his cheek.

"So what now?" He leaned over and brushed his lips against mine. My hand moved from his cheek to the back of his neck. He slid a hand under my back and squeezed gently.

"Now it begins." I closed my eyes and went under.


	3. Knowledge

Till There Was You

_Part 2: Knowledge_

_by Lady Scarlet-Une_

"What is your mission?" Heero asked, his eyes aglow with zealous fire.

"To bring peace to the earth and the colonies," I replied, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. He was so breathtaking when in 'soldier' mode.

"Who is your enemy?"

"The Earth Sphere Unified Nation." I clutched my hands in my lap, forcibly restraining myself from reaching out and brushing that lock of hair out of his face. Such displays of affection wouldn't be welcomed during one of our little 'sessions.'

"And what must you do to accomplish this mission?" All inclination to smile disappeared.

"Eliminate all obstacles," I replied, my tone matching his. Smiling slightly, he reached out and caressed my cheek softly. I closed my eyes and, for a moment, blocked out everything except his gentle touch. My reward.

"I've taught you everything I know, Relena," he breathed into my ear. His soft breath set my nerves afire and I clutched at my hands even tighter. I couldn't touch him, that was the rule. Exercises in self-discipline can be practiced in a myriad of ways. "Now is the time for the plan to be enacted. Are you ready, Relena?" He ever so gently nibbled on my earlobe. I opened my eyes and turned my head until his face was in full view. 

"Yes. Mission accepted." It was then that I knew the fire in his eyes was also a reflection of that found in mine. 

***

Prime Minister Erikson was, above all other things, a man of habit. For five years I had watched him set his notepad at exactly the same spot on the conference table and methodically arrange the water pitcher into just the perfect position at his right hand side. For five years I had also half-listened to his boring diatribes on the benefits of exercise on one's constitution. It was from all this crap that I learned of his daily morning routine. Each morning, at precisely 5:45 am in any weather, the well-respected and much-revered Prime Minister would exit his house sans bodyguards and take a brisk forty-five minute walk in the woods surrounding his estate. I had never thought much of his pattern till now. After all, I had to read the damn blowhard's long-worded and rambling memos every day and be subjected to his grating voice for three hours every Saturday morning. After a prolonged period of that sort of torture, mentally retreating to La-La Land whenever he talked was more than acceptable. However, today was different. Today, I would actually be taking him up on his advice and accompanying him on his stroll. He just wouldn't know till it was too late, that's all. 

I began by simply tailing him for a few minutes, letting him briskly make his way deeper into the woods and out of shouting distance to his home. Heero glided along beside me, effortlessly silent. After exactly fifteen minutes, he looked at me inquiringly and I nodded in return. Picking up speed, Heero began to close the distance between himself and Erikson, noiselessly stalking his prey. As if sensing his impending doom, Erikson picked up speed and began to nervously glance around, uneasily wringing his hands. This went on for a few minutes until Erikson finally broke and reached for his communicator.

"I don't think so." Heero unceremoniously plucked the object out of Erikson's hands and flung it into the dense foliage. Erikson spun around, shocked, and stared numbly at him.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he sputtered. I smirked in amusement from my hiding place as a lone bead of sweat dripped off his chin. 

Heero's reply was a swift punch in the face. 

Erikson toppled to the floor, still conscious but in deep pain. Striving to maintain some semblance of dignity, he pushed himself onto one elbow and wiped the blood off his face with the back of his hand. The look he shot in Heero's direction withered under the intensity of Heero's glare. "What are you going to do with me?" he asked, his voice slightly cracking on the last syllable. Heero said nothing. "Well? Speak up, damn it! If you think that you're going to extract any information out of me, young man, you are greatly mistaken! I will not break and, in the end, you will be the one to suffer the most. " His voice rose an octave. "And if you think that you can hold me hostage in exchange for money or some half-cocked demands, you are greatly mistaken yet again!" He raised a finger and began brandishing it menacingly. "You may kill me now, but mark my words, interloper, you WILL be destroyed in the end." Heero kicked him in the ribs.

"I didn't say I was going to kill you and you're not worth the bother of a kidnapping." 

"Th--then, what are you going to do with me?" Erikson wheezed.

"I didn't say you weren't going to die, either." I watched Erikson's false bravado crack and fall away. 

"Then, what will happen?" he whispered.

"I will kill you." I emerged from the trees and pointed my gun straight at his head.

"Ms. Peacecraft!"

"Ms. Darlian," I corrected, enunciating every syllable. I cocked my gun.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he shouted, his face blotched and red with confusion and fear. I smiled prettily. 

"Simple, oh great Prime Minister Erikson." My smile widened. "It's a revolution." 

That night, the news was filled with old press photos and polite grief over the recent murder of the once high and mighty Prime Minister. I watched the flickering stream of scenes on the television emotionlessly, the video of his sobbing widow inspiring only mild interest. Heero observed me from his seat across the room.

"Regrets?" 

I turned to him and watched the light from the television play across his features in the darkness for a few moments. I stood and silently glided up to him. His hair felt soft and smooth under my fingertips. Smiling, I gently placed a kiss on his forehead.

"No. None at all." 

***

The morning after Erikson's tragic demise in the woods, I sat in my office and busily prepared my arguments for the upcoming emergency cabinet meeting. The Prime Minister's sudden death had, as anticipated, created a political vacuum. Now each and every politician with delusions of grandeur was struggling to take the barely-cold Prime Minister's position. Situations like this meant that important issues - even ones like the core doctrine of pacifism - would be put on the back burner. Preservation of the self always trumps everything else despite all flowered phrases stating otherwise. 'Help those before you help yourself' my ass. The vid-phone suddenly rang, jolting me out of the land of political jargon. The face on the screen elicited a surprised look, but my mind was anything but.

"Duo!" I exclaimed, my tone radiating excitement. Smiling warmly, I leaned closer to the screen and began rambling off pointless pleasantries. Duo was more than happy to reply to my inane inquiries, joyfully telling me about the recent antics of his young son and woefully lamenting Hilde's alleged physical and mental abuse on his poor being. He eventually got the point of the conversation.

"Listen, Relena, I've been talking to the guys and we're all kind of worried about this recent assassination."

I nodded my head, a serious expression on my face. "Yes, it is a major cause of concern, Duo. He was the head of the government." 

"Yes, but what really concerns us is the potential troubles that may stem from this."

"That's understandable. Erikson held a position of immense political power, and that position's sudden vacancy has set the political wolves into a frenzy."

"Exactly! Situations like this can easily lead to potential disorganization so extreme that major warfare would become a prime possibility for some reason or another. That means mobilization." For a second, something flashed in Duo's eyes. He hid it well, but I knew what he was thinking. War would mean rebuilding and returning to his Gundam, thus jeopardizing the serenity he had fought so hard to gain. It was like that for all of them, except Heero. He merely wanted to feel fulfilled again, this time with me at his side. Self-preservation trumps all. I nodded once more.

"So what exactly are you asking of me, Duo?" I smiled inwardly. I already knew the answer.

"I...no, we want to know if you think there's any likelihood of war breaking out."

Bingo. Smiling sadly, I gazed into his face earnestly, putting my best I'm-YOUR!-politician look on my face. "I'm going to try to do my best to prevent such a likelihood, Duo. What this world doesn't need is more upheavals. We're still recovering from Mariemeia as it is and that was five years ago. There are others who share my sentiments, Duo, and together we will do our best to preserve the integrity of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. I'm fairly confident that we'll succeed."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then I'll do my best to keep you guys out of fit."

"You know that wouldn't be possible, Relena. We would be too valuable and too dangerous to set aside. Plus, the colonies would certainly be involved if something like that happened and we'd have to fight to protect them."

"All you can do is hope for the best then, Duo," I replied, shrugging my shoulders helplessly. Duo sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I guess."

The conversation ended a few moments later, but I didn't go back to my paperwork directly afterward. Instead, I swiveled my chair and looked out the window. The world looked so sunny and cheerful on the other side of the window pane, like nothing could ever really mar the unending beauty. Smiling, I looked at the blank vid-phone one last time. Yes. One way or the other, I'd do my best to keep the Gundam pilots out of commission.


	4. Utilization

Till There Was You 

Part 3: Utilization

by Lady Scarlet-Une

"-and we must not forget during this period of upheaval the price we paid to achieve the present state of affairs, gentlemen." I paused delicately and surveyed the rapt faces around me. Excellent. "Treize Kushrenada may have been a man of disputable repute, but he knew the number of soldiers who died for his cause by heart. He personally honored their memories. And while none of us here can claim similar knowledge, we do know that many sacrificed loved ones and life for the sake of attaining the pacifism we have held so dear. Let not the struggle of power make us vulnerable, gentlemen. Instead, let us strive to attain a new order without jeopardizing our relationship with each other and with the people." 

I sat down and watched the other cabinet members ingest my thoughts carefully. I could feel them falling under my spell, slowly but surely giving in to the world I had verbally conjured. Who better to listen to about pacifism than one of its most historically strongest supporters? Who better indeed. 

"As much as I applaud your intentions, Ms. Dorlian, I feel I must point out some obvious flaws in your arguments."

I narrowed my eyes slightly and sized up my opponent in secret glee. His name was Deacon Smith, a brash American who was the lead rabble-rouser in our cabinet. He and his political followers were not major supporters of the status quo. Before the end of the first war, companies in the United States had held lucrative contracts with manufacturers that had allowed them to be sole distributors of certain key products needed for armament production. Needless to say, the financial windfall following the destruction of OZ and Romefeller had left them less than pleased. Mr. Smith had the most to gain from the destruction of the status quo. Thus, he was the easiest to manipulate.

"I am more than willing to discuss my policies with you, Vice Minister Smith," I replied sweetly. I watched his chest puff up and his shoulders relax. I smiled inwardly. Pompous ass.

"Why is it that we must stubbornly cling to this outdated notion of pacifism?" he began. "It has been truly ineffective against the civil wars sprouting up all over the globe and with the anti-Federation groups in the colonies. The Preventers, our only organization licensed to bear arms, can only do so much and what they have done so far has amounted to nothing more than piss in a bucket." He stopped to chuckle slightly at his American colloquialism. " Furthermore, how trustworthy is this Lady Une anyway? She was a former Colonel in the OZ organization, after all, and her loyalty to Treize and his ideals is well known. And look what he did. He embroiled us in a deplorable war!"

"Treize believed that warfare was the only way to really achieve an absolute state of peace, Vice Minister Smith," I replied coolly. "Lady Une is now protecting the peace Treize Kushrenada worked so hard to obtain. And who are you to criticize the late General? If I remember correctly, you were once considered a part of his political inner circle." I paused and looked at all of them thoughtfully, an exaggerated look of surprise on my face. It would have done Dorothy proud. "And didn't you eagerly sell supplies to OZ to fuel that 'deplorable' war as well? Yes, I believe that was the case." My smile widened. "If I remember correctly." I watched his face redden and heard the whispers sweep across the room. Smith had worked hard to downplay that part of his past, and I had brought to light many issues thought long forgotten.

"Furthermore, Vice Minister Smith, armament would violate the treaty we have with the colonies. We are only beginning to see a downward trend in their intense paranoia, and anything even remotely resembling the idea of 'armed invasion' would send them all in a blind panic. Am I not right, gentlemen?" I arched an eyebrow at the representatives from the colonies. They gravely nodded their heads in affirmation. "Therefore, why should we sacrifice our hard-won peace for the sake of intangible paranoia? The new government order will have to promote pacifism because it is the cornerstone of our social order. The small bouts of warfare will be quelled, Vice Minister, in due time. Until then, it would behoove us to refrain from jumping the gun and implementing rash plans. I don't know about your constituents, but I can think of many others who would prefer not to begin training. And I, for one, do not wish to see the Sanq Kingdom destroyed again." 

I sat back and watched him flail. I wanted to relish the moment, to revel in my win. But this was small pickings in comparison to what I had planned. Furthermore, such an action would not be in character, and maintaining the illusion of my former naive self was acutely necessary at this point in the game. Starting right -

"Vice Minister Sita, we have a problem." Now. I watched the messenger run from the doorway and skitter around the conference table. He placed a folder in the hands of Fujari Sita, Erikson's second in command and now acting Prime Minister. Not to mention close personal friend. I watched his eyes grow wide as the words sunk in. He closed the folder and gravely surveyed the conference room. I stared at him intently, but he refused to meet my questioning gaze.

"Ladies and gentlemen, some disturbing news, fittingly pertinent to the present discussion, has arisen. In my hands, I hold the results of extensive forensic exams conducted at the scene of our late Prime Minister's murder. Thorough investigation has resulted in the finding of evidence linking the late Prime Minister's death with -" He paused and the Cabinet held its collective breath. I did as well, just for the fun of it. "- Operation X, a rebel faction from L2." 

There was a moment of silence as the news sunk in. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. 'Good job, Heero,' I thought proudly. Tampering with government files had always been one of his fortes. 

The silence was broken by the pounding of a fist against the table top. "The colonies have outrageously broken our treaty!" Smith cried exultantly. I watched the colony representatives protest loudly.

"I say, this is NOT representative of all the colonies, Vice Minister!"

"Exactly! We had no part in this at all! We knew nothing!!"

"Technically speaking, what you're saying may be true," Smith drawled out, a predatory gleam in his eye. "However, you did nothing to quell these rebel factions."

"We did what we could!" retorted one of the delegates.

"But you couldn't do anything effectively because you had no arms!" trumped Smith triumphantly. I could already feel the tide turning in his direction, a mixture of self-righteous indignation and hunger for power fueling him on. Armament would mean domination, after all. Heady stuff.

"We need to show the rebels that we do not take the murder of our political leader lightly," Smith continued. "No more flowery phrases, no more empty threats. Instead, we must show them and all their allies the true strength of Earth!"

"See here!" I cried passionately, bolting up from my chair. "We are part of an Alliance, an Earth and Colony organization. We cannot simply turn our backs and condemn them all!"

"But can we trust them now after this startling act of rebellion?" Smith countered. "The web may extend far beyond the trappings of one small organization, Miss Darlian. Why, further investigation may prove that this step may have even been colony-funded."

"And if not?" I replied tersely. 

Smith smiled. "Then they may just have covered their tracks well."

"That's irrational!" I exclaimed. "What you're doing is damning them with or without the presence of sufficient evidence! That's -"

"Sit down, Vice Minister Darlian!" roared Sita from his place at the head of the table. I stared at him in simulated shock. "Prime Minister Erikson was a good man and a close friend. I am still coping with the loss of his presence and excellent leadership. What you are saying is a direct affront to his memory. How can we just sit about and do nothing to avenge this heinous crime?"

"I'm just saying that it seems rather extreme to declare a virtual war -"

"Extreme?!" Sita shouted, his voice rising a few octaves. He pointed his fingers at the flustered colony representatives frantically. "These men did a half-assed job and our Leader was assassinated! They fucked up and Erikson paid the price. They, and whoever participated with those rebels, deserve to be punished!"

"But evidence-"

"This is the evidence!" He threw down the folder. It hit the table with a loud 'thwack.' "Armament is necessary. Teaching the rebels a lesson is necessary. Your pathetic ideals are not."

I sat back in my chair and watched irrationality take a hold of them all. Shocked exclamations of outrage and anger poured out of the Earth representatives' mouths. They crowded around Smith and vied for his attention, periodically scowling darkly at the quiet cluster of Colony representatives sitting next to me. Smith caught my eye and smirked. I turned away. I turned back after I heard someone softly call out my name. Vice Minister Durham from L1 looked extremely anxious and slightly frightened.

"I'm quite sorry for all of this," he choked out. "Thank you ,for-for doing your best." 

I reached out and mechanically patted his hand. "I'm sorry, too. No need for the thanks." I drew my hand away and laid it on the table in front of me. I stared at them for a bit before crossing my arms on the table and dropping my head onto them. I heard Durham tell the others to leave me alone.

"She's suffered a major defeat," he whispered to someone. "We all need to regroup."

The grin on my face widened and I spent the next few moments fighting down excited giggles. I had been barely able to suppress my amusement towards the end of the meeting and hiding my face was all I could think of doing to conceal my glee.

'No, Mr. Durham,' I thought amusedly, 'I have not lost at all. In fact, this may be my greatest victory as of yet.' 


	5. Implementation

**Eeep, my series have been stagnating! I really can't get into the writing mood right now. :-( Hope y'all will forgive the crappiness of this installment. Also, WARNING: BIG LEMON right here! My first one, and boy is it...explicit. LOTS OF LEMONADE!!!

~LS-U***

Till There Was You

Part 4: Implementation

by Lady Scarlet-Une

I closed the front door and leaned against it wearily.

"I take it the meeting did not go well, Miss Relena?" I looked at my butler Pagan sorrowfully and shook my head.

"Ah." 

The grandfather clock in the foyer ticked on endlessly and I remained in my position against the door. Pagan, concluding that I was too overwrought with sadness to move, gallantly offered me his arm and escorted me to the stairs. "Try not to think about it anymore tonight, Relena. Just take a break and pick it all up tomorrow."

I smiled at him in simulated gratefulness. "Thank you, Pagan." I started up the stairs but stopped short around the third or fourth. "Where's Heero, by the way?"

"In the upstairs study."

"Thank you."

Pagan shook his head as he watched the young mistress walk up the stairs. 'The weight of the world is quite heavy, even on the shoulders of the young,' he thought sadly.

I took deep breaths and concentrated on each step one at a time. The euphoria rushing through my body was mind-numbing. I was one step closer to my goal, to what I...we...had been working on for so long. Smirking, I turned right at the top of the stairs and headed towards the study. Someone needed to be congratulated.

***

"You did a good job, Heero."

He turned around and eyed my figure in the doorway.

"Did you expect anything less?"

"Now that's a silly question." Smiling, I pushed myself off from my leaning position and slowly walked over to him. I put my hands on his chair and twirled him around for the hell of it. The chair stopped with a small squeak and he once more had his back to me. I leaned over, wrapped my arms around his neck, and watched our reflection in the computer screen.

"Is everything set?" I whispered into his ear.

"Hn." He reached up and wove a hand through my hair.

"Good."

He tugged on my hair till we were face to face. I watched the fire ignite in his eyes and shivered as he licked his lips. "The microchips are planted. Each Mobile Doll they produce will contain one. Each Mobile Doll will be ours."

"Well, isn't that peachy," I murmured distractedly, wishing he'd stop toying with me. As if sensing my pique, his eyes locked back with mine and he smiled. Wrapping his other hand behind my neck, he tilted my head to the side and kissed me.

The sensations were, as always, exquisite. Deftly, I ran one hand through his hair while the other fumbled with the hem of his green tank top. I broke our kiss and hissed softly in pleasure when I touched his warm skin. He lunged and began sucking on my neck, his teeth nibbling softly on my sensitive skin. Lost in my drugged pleasure, I was only vaguely aware of him unbuttoning my shirt. The cold air hitting my chest cleared my head somewhat, but then he began rubbing my hard nipple between his fingers and the clarity disappeared once more.

Breaking his lip lock on my neck, I quickly drew his shirt off and clumsily took off mine. He deftly unclasped my bra with one hand while the other left my hair and slowly traveled up my skirt. His eyes were glowing in the darkness and my breath kept hitching as his hand skimmed higher.

"Yo-you're going to have to stand up so that w-we can get your shorts off," I whispered shakily. His hand stilled and I whimpered.

"But then I'd have to move my hand," he replied huskily. He leaned forward and gently sucked my earlobe.

"Just as long as it comes back."

He wrapped an arm around my waist and abruptly stood up. My eyes widened in surprise and I forced my unsteady legs to support me. He worked off his shorts and sat back down, legs spread. The hand at my waist was slowly pulling up my skirt and I shivered as the cold hair hit the back of my thighs. I felt his other hand caress my hip and finger the waistband of my underwear.

"Look at me."

I opened my eyes and watched his mouth tilt into a smirk. He yanked and I heard my underwear rip. Heero flung the remnants over his shoulders and t floated gracefully onto the computer monitor.

"Sit down, Princess."

Slowly I placed my hands on his shoulders and straddled his lap. Our eyes locked and I smiled as I began to lower myself. I reached the tip and stopped, partly to tease him and partly to revel in the delicate sensation. I felt his hand tighten at my waist.

"I don't think so."

He thrust hard and I cried out in surprise and pleasure. He thrust again, but this time I was ready and pumped my hips in return. Our pace was fast and soon our soft cries were echoing across the room and bouncing off the walls. I felt his mouth on my breast and I swallowed down a small scream of pleasure. My senses were beginning to cave in and I felt myself tightening around him.

"Who loves you, Relena?" he whispered raggedly into my ear. 

"You, Heero," I gasped out. I was rewarded by a harder thrust.

"And who do you love?"

"You, you, you," I chanted, almost incoherently. I could feel it coming and I began pumping harder and faster. Suddenly he stopped moving and I almost howled in frustration.

"And you will love me forever," he whispered softly, his eyes searching mine. I caught my breath and raised one trembling hand to cup his cheek.

"Forever."

He started thrusting again, furiously bucking his hips while I held onto his shoulders and just felt. The climax threw me out of my mind and my sharp cry bounced all around us.

"Relena," he gasped and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I felt him shudder beneath me, his arms convulsively squeezing my breath out. Sighing, I dropped my head onto his shoulder and smiled.

"Relena."

"Yes?" I replied drowsily.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Heero."

I kissed his neck and promptly fell asleep.

I awoke later to find myself in our bed alone. Sitting up, I saw him across the room in front of his laptop.

"What's wrong?" I asked, eyeing his tense shoulders.

"The Gundam Pilots have been called back into duty. The colonies have decided not to face annihilation threats lying down." I shivered and wrapped the blankets around my shoulders. 

"Have any of them contacted you yet?"

"They left messages."

"So you're going?"

"Of course. I have my duty to uphold." He turned around and smiled at me. I smiled back.

"Of course. What a silly question."

****

Hey Quatre, long time no see." Quatre smiled tiredly.

"Yea, Duo, it's been awhile."

And that was the extent of their conversation. Silently, the two Gundam pilots looked at the stars streaming past their shuttle. Lost in their own private thoughts, they ignored each other and tried to ignore the situation at hand. Quatre was the first to break, sighing and dropping his head into his hands.

"I don't want to go, Duo." 

Duo let his head fall back against the head cushion of his chair. "When have our opinions ever mattered, Quatre?" he replied bitterly. "We are a tool of the people. We are the protectors of the people. We are the fucking nannies of humanity. What you or I want or need is inconsequential."

Quatre stayed silent. Duo stared outside at the stars once more.

"I left her behind again, Quatre." Quatre turned his head and watched the stream of emotions dance across Duo's face.

"A long time ago, I told her I'd never leave her again, that I would be there for her and our son." Duo took a ragged breath and swiped his bangs off his face. "You can't imagine the way I felt when she started crying. She didn't make one sound, not one sob or even a fucking curse. She just cried silently, tears dripping down her cheeks." Duo turned around and stared hard into Quatre's eyes. "But her eyes said it all, Quatre. Hilde's eyes said, 'Liar.'"

Quatre opened his mouth to say something comforting, but closed it back up when he realized he had nothing to say. There was nothing he could even think of that could comfort the man beside him. Quatre took his hand instead and gripped it tightly.

"You'll make it back to her, Duo," Quatre said quietly. "We'll all make it back."

The rest of the shuttle ride to L3 was spent in silence.

***

I frowned and slapped an irritating balloon from my face. A big heap of them was tied to an aluminum pole next to me, and the damn wind kept blowing them in my face.

"...and we will not back down and lay defenseless as the colonies wish we would. Their action was a calculated strike against the sanctity of our Earth-Colony relationship and a direct refutation of all the Earth Sphere Unified Nation represents."

I tuned out Deacon Smith's voice and scanned the crowd in front of me. I was standing, along with all the other non-colony Cabinet members, on a platform at Cromwell Military Base above a swarm of dignitaries, onlookers, and reporters. Today was the first day of the new war, a.k.a. 'Operation Vengeance.' I rolled my eyes. God, even the name sounded tacky. But then again, given the person who thought it up...

My eyes drifted back to Deacon Smith. As anticipated, Smith had been elected Prime Minister on the power of his surprise triumph at the last board meeting. I watched him pound the podium and flourish his hands grandly, imbuing his speech with jingoistic sentiment and anti-colony bullshit.

"And so, we launch these Mobile Doll carries today to not just honor a slain leader and comrade, but to reiterate and reaffirm our commitment to justice. Today, we show the colonies that we will NOT take betrayal and duplicity lightly. Instead, we will punish them with the full force of our might!"

The crowd went wild as Smith flourished extravagantly. 'A big ending to top a big piece of shit,' I thought cynically. Suddenly, a loud roaring sound filled the field, drowning out the raucous roars of the crowd. In the distance, behind the platform, the first fleet of Mobile Doll carriers lifted off and made their way into the sky. I watched them silently, a small smile on my lips.

"Why Miss Dorlian, tell me you enjoyed the event greatly." I wiped the smile off before turning around to face a smug-faced Prime Minister Smith.

"Even with the use of Mobile Dolls, Smith, thousands of people will lose lives. How can I enjoy the signing of the death warrant of so many victims?"

"We do it all for the greater good, Miss Dorlian. The lives sacrificed will be remembered throughout all eternity. They will heroes who helped preserve the name of justice," he replied pompously. I could see some people standing behind him nodding approvingly.

"But who's justice is it?" I turned around and walked away. He was getting tiresome and one could take only so much baseness before one started to feel dirty. I walked away from the platform silently, all the while feeling all their eyes on my back. Justice was such an indefinable word, subject to the interpretation of both the user and the recipient. One definition was needed, a universal standard that could be held up in all instances. The present system allowed for too much leeway.

'I will bring this world to one unified peace," I thought to myself as I walked away. There was no need for useless banter and debate. My word would allow for unequivocal, encompassing peace.

***

Quatre and Duo wearily stepped off the shutle and eyed the long black limo in front of them. The driver eagerly walked up to them and tipped his hat.

"Good evening, gentleman, my name is Brad Walker and I was sent by the L3 Minister to chaffeur you to your hotel."

Duo gave Quatre a broad grin, traces of his old natural ebullience peeking out from behind his current mask of frustration and anger.

"Quite a change, eh, Quatre boy? No more slumming for us! From now on, we're Official colony freedom fighters."

"Yep."

They walked to the limo where Quatre proceeded to watch in amusement as Duo eagerly peered inside the mini-fridge, pushed all the buttons twice, and used the loudspeakers for karaoke purposes. His smile became a frown, however, as the minutes ticked by and the limo remained motionless.

"Where's the driver?" Duo looked up from his freshly made martini and shrugged.

"Beats me." Worried, Quatre decided to check outside. He flipped the door handle, but the door remained closed. Eyes wide in horror, Quatre began desperately tugging at the handle, the full ramifications of the situation sinking it.

"Duo, we have a problem." Duo looked up sharply and quickly assessed the situation. Reaching over, he pushed the button to slide down the windows and cursed in frustration when they didn't move. 

"Fuck." He pulled out his gun and aimed it at the nearest window.

"Shield your eyes, Quatre," he commanded.

The limo exploded in a ball of flames before Duo could pull the trigger.


End file.
